High Street Renewal Fund by ATCM and UK Dept for Communities & Local Government - This nice little publication has 7 examples of High Street initiatives, showing the organisations, projects and leadership it takes to make big impacts on town centres. It’s available from the ATCM web site here: https://www.atcm.org/programmes/town_teams/resources/high_street_renewal_fund
It is a fundamental principle of the Irish Planning code (like many other countries) that not all development requires permission, and hence a considerable body of law has evolved to ensure that straight-forward or minor developments, do not clog-up the system, and don’t have to face delays and costs associated with attaining permission. ‘Exempted development’ provisions also encompass change of use, and have developed Use Classes similar to the UK system that groups similar planning activities.
The use classes for shops were adopted in 2001 (evolving from 1994 Regs) with the principle that the high street should be preserved for retail, and in particular to control financial services and offices presence on streets in order to promote high-street activity.
There has been fundamental change in the structure of the high-street in the last decade, firstly due to out-of-town retailing, and now by e-retail and m-retail. Financial institutions are similarly cutting-back on branches in favour of on-line services. These trends coupled with persistent economic stagnation suggest high-street retail vacancy will remain high for the foreseeable future.
So the Use Classes (which promote ease of change from other uses to shops) need to be tweaked/reversed to facilitate exempted development change of use from shops to enterprise, small office, leisure, education, galleries etc. A more sophisticated Class system would see retail promoted on prime pitch, and these supporting 'town centre’ uses on secondary streets (would be useful for retail strategies). It would mean entrepreneurs could get into town centre spaces without a 3 month delay waiting for permission (or without risk of planning enforcement), and landlords would not have to deal with changes in the planning status of their property.
The Use Classes can be amended quickly, and this change would have a pro-active and positive impact for town centres.
Following the recent IPI conference on Retail and Town centres, it’s time to return to the theme of the Retail Planning Guidelines, and Retail Strategies, and pose some issues not aired in the conference that day.
It’s a fundamental aim of the Draft 2011 Retail Planning Guidelines to “protect, support and promote the continuing role of city and town centres”. This is a consistent theme to the 2005 Guidelines, which in principle sought to prioritise town centre retail through approaches such as sequential testing. It didn’t work.
The roll-out of retail strategies, resulted in the over-estimation, and over-supply of retail floor space generally in all the wrong areas. It also pitched the existing town centre retailers in an adversarial or “protectionist” role against the people they supported with their rates, as Councils went in search of new rates base. The problems with the approach to Retail Strategies over the last 10 years were numerous, and the results on the ground speak for themselves, and the penny is dropping.
What’s important now though, is to look at the new Guidelines and ask can we to do something useful and different? The answer is yes, but it will mean that Council’s will need to stop hiring the same old people to do the same old thing.
The key lies in the new National Policy Objectives:
1. Retail development should be plan-led, including the identification of retail requirements and appropriate planning policies and objectives, and the implementation of city and town centre management strategies aimed at securing development plan objectives.
2. The planning system should focus on promoting and supporting the vitality and viability of city and town centres in facilitating the requirements of the retail sector.
3. The planning system should play a key role in ensuring competitiveness in the retail sector, particularly through city / town centre management strategies and active land management approaches aimed at new market entrants, encouraging necessary development in suitable locations, and advancing choice of retail outlets for the consumer.
4. The planning system should promote forms of retail development that in themselves will encourage greater use of sustainable transport modes including public transport, cycling and walking in accordance with the Smarter Travel strategy.
5. Retail development has a key role in delivering quality in the built environment by contributing to a high standard of urban design.
The inclusion of Town Centre Management strategy in the first and third NPOs is significant, but it can’t be left as an abstract measure for the implementation section. It has to be done as an integral part of the Retail Strategy, where the Strategy needs to become a process; a living document. This requires Councils and Business Communities to roll-up the sleeves and work in Partnership.
Retail Strategies need to go beyond Vitality and Viability. Town centres need to be able to provide a product or experience that can compete with or complement very sophisticated multi-national retailers and booming e/m-commerce models. As the central bank said .. Wait and see isn’t an option. Any town centre that collectively works to re-position itself and respond to change is a much more attractive proposition.
Unique Selling Point or Back to Basics?
As marketing and city branding exert a greater influence on city and town planning/ governance, the concept and term of a Unique Selling Point (USP) has become more prevalent. Its understandable why its appealing. One moment of inspiration and you have one initiative, project or building that sells your town for you. Its the same way of thinking that says we need a sleek new modernist art gallery/library/ conference etc to ‘compete’.
However the challenges that town & city centres face are very complex, and require a comprehensive response. So many towns have been so badly run that the USP really should be considered to be the second half of the manual. So how about 'Back to Basics’? Good maintenance of streets and premises, retail that serves customers needs, cleanliness, trees, public space, pedestrian and bicycle safety; …. a good place to be… now that’s marketable.
We’ve had a very positive response to the Town Centre workshop idea over the summer. Most people have come back looking for a bit more information on the structure. So here it is.
The Town Centre Workshop is a day-long workshop primarily designed for Chambers of Commerce and Business Associations with Local Authorities and urban leaders, around the country, to help advance their own town centre partnership (or Town Team) and progress to actions that can be implemented.
Every town is different, in terms of needs, hallenges, and the dynamic of the group who will deal with those issues. The workshop is held in the town in order to work with the partners/ stakeholders who have to make it happen. Its not a seminar or a training day. The emphasis is on making the most of existing resources, people and assets for short-term wins and permanent gains for the town centre. In terms of scale we see the most productive numbers being of “class room” size, i.e. 10 to 30 people. We work with the contact person in the town on who should attend, and arrangements for the day.
The approach to each subject matter is to have a 10 minute presentation every 30 to 40 minutes, to help provoke discussion or point to examples of best practice in town centre management from UK, Ireland and USA, be it from BIDs (Business Improvement Districts) or other Place Management initiatives We also want to focus on a positive response to town centre challenges and achievable actions.
After settling in, the single-day workshop (10am to 4pm) comprises 3 main elements: 1) Shake-up, 2) Building Blocks & 3)Next-steps.
Introduction: An introduction to the context for the workshop, the concept and development of Town Teams, Place Management and the overall goals that working together as a town-centre partnership may achieve.
The Shake-up: If we are to conclude the day with Actions, we first have to look at the town’s strengths, the needs and services the population require, and gaps/opportunities to fill. This phase of the day is about airing the groups’ thinking on Place, Attractions and Perceptions. What is the 'experience’? How do we experience the place as a visitor, business person or regular shopper. We’ll use a slide-show to pose questions on urban experience and quality. What do we honestly think of the town centre, why would we want to be there or not. We brainstorm on what we know (information), what’s good, what and who is missing, and how we can fill the gaps. We’ll use mind-maps to help visualise and consolidate our inputs.
‘Building Blocks’ focuses on Partnership, what it means, and ways of working together. I give a short presentation on approaches to Town Centre Management (everything from public sector to private sector). We envisage what a Town Centre Partnership/Company or BID would look like, where it could be located, full-time or part-time and what are the things it would do. There are likely to be several organisations in the town already working with various goals, objectives and budgets, but all contributing to the town. Organisations change and develop. So we think about where we are and where the organisation might go.
‘Next-Steps’ brings together 10 actions from all actors, in manageable concepts, stages and projects. What are the steps that need to happen, now and in the next 3 years? We can help this discussion with examples of Core functions, and best practice. With over 1,000 BIDs in America and 136 in the UK there are plenty of ideas out there. We don’t want to swamp people with unachievable goals, but at the same time, success stories and good ideas can encourage people on to the next stage.
Also see our Prezi presentation on the Workshop at http://prezi.com/30yt0fgcoh9r/town-centre-workshop/
Urb is the only consultancy in Ireland with expertise in urban planning and place management /town centre partnerships and BIDs. Richard Hamilton is an Associate Member of the Institute of Place Management in Manchester. Urb’s aim is to help communities achieve the vibrant and vital town centres everyone wants. This requires a partnership approach, for which towns need assistance to start-up and evolve. The new Retail Planning Guidelines highlight the implementation of city and town centre management strategies as an integral part of the National Policy Objectives.
Making Town Centres work is an initiative by Urb aimed at Local Authorities and Local Enterprise bodies/Chambers of Commerce to enable local communities and businesses to take steps to improve the health and attractiveness of their town centres and urban cores. See our page on Place Management for more information